The Best Beauty Looks from NYFW Spring 2016

The Look: New Grunge

How-To: "We always do the opposite of what other people do," said François Nars backstage to the group of editors who each season walk into Marc Jacobs, the last show of New York Fashion Week, feeling exhausted and walk out completely re-inspired. And yes, part of that is because Nars and Guido buck the trends and go wild here and going into the hair and makeup room feels a little like going into a carnival funhouse, but it's also because Jacobs is one of the few designers who seems to really give the beauty just as much thought as the fashion. You see the look—whether it's no makeup or a bun coming off the forehead or, in this case, greasy hair! clumpy lashes! blue shadow! red glitter!—and your first thought is, "What the—?!" But then you step back and listen and start to realize that every crazy, weird, amazing detail matters and together they all add up to tell this story about the Marc girl that's so much more personal than it is elsewhere. This go around, she's a girl who is too busy partying 'til the morning and sleeping 'til the next party to bother with shampoo or makeup remover, which is why her skin is greasy, her hair is wilted and thrown up haphazardly with vintage pins she stole or found at her favorite thrift store and her mascara is five days old and dried into thick spidery clumps. If you're looking for a how-to here, you're missing the whole point. Nars and Marc don't like pretty, and maybe we don't, either—because after all, even when the girl looks like a hot mess or a teenage boy or an unsettling mannequin (and it's always something), you still want to be her every damn time.

Backstage Essentials: Redken Guts 10, $18, ulta.com; NARS Eye Paint in Solomon Islands, $25, and Audacious Mascara, $26, narscosmetics.com.

The Look: Strength in Simplicity

How-To: Hairstylist Anthony Turner described the simple, single braid down the back at Proenza Schouler as "Cuba meets New York," a nod to the confident, sexy women the designers met on a recent trip to the Caribbean country. He prepped damp hair with thickening spray and rough-dried it with his hands, then tied it off in a low ponytail before braiding for a clear line. It was the perfect complement to a collection that was both raw and feminine.

Backstage Essentials: Bumble and Bumble Thickening Hairspray, $29, bumbleandbumble.com.

The Look: Working Girl Chic

How-To: Beauty and fashion editors alike approached the first DKNY show under Public School designers Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne with anticipation, eager to see which direction the brand would go in. Turns out, a very cool, and very wearable, one was the answer. After seasons of out-there hair and makeup (and that's putting it nicely), it was "time for a palette cleanser," said hairstylist Eugene Souleiman. "We needed to do something very different from what we've done before, so it's really clean, defined and almost masculine with the side part." He worked exclusively with hairspray, spraying it right at the roots for a wet, shiny finish and moving the can further away as he moved down the head for a smooth transition into hair that has "a floating quality in the back." Makeup artist Yadim referenced a mood board that included photos of Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista—fresh and natural meets '90s power players. The majority of models wore hardly any makeup, but ten wore strong red lipstick. "We didn't decide based on the clothes or the look, it was more intuitive; I would look at some of the girls and say, 'Oh my god, she's totally that woman," said Yadim. (To keep the color in place, he used the old Hollywood tissue trick: Press a 2-ply tissue on the lips, dab a powder puff on top, remove the tissue and reapply the lip color. Repeat two or three times.) "I think any woman would want to wear this look. It's fresh and beautiful and if you're afraid of the red lip, don't do it—you have options. No one has to do a trend."

Backstage Essentials: Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lipstick (out early 2015) and Lip Studio Color Blur in Orange Ya Glad, $8, drugstore.com; Wella EIMI Stay Firm Workable Finishing Hairspray, $17.50, ulta.com.

The Look: Desert Beauty

How-To: The designer's earthy, deconstructed Spring collection felt like somewhat of a departure from the norm, but the windblown hair and what Dick Page called "a dusty, desert tan" was classic Kors. Page skipped blush and instead layered bronzers together, brushing gold ones ("gold is great for warming up fairer girls") across all the high points of the face and then going over with matte ones for more depth. Vaseline was swiped across the lids and lips as a finishing touch.

Backstage Essentials: Michael Kors Bronze Powder, $50, macys.com.

The Look: Fairy Princess

How-To: Combine couture training with an artist's bohemian aesthetic and lots of color and sequins and you get Delpozo; thankfully, Joseph Font knows exactly where to draw the line and practice restraint. Others might coat the entire lid in sparkles, he chooses to scatter them in the center; in favor of pink blush or peach lips, he goes bare. It's whimsical and offbeat and yet it makes total sense.

Backstage Essentials: M.A.C. Glitter in Silver, $22, maccosmetics.com.

The Look: Gilded Goddess

How-To: It's always fun to walk into Rodarte knowing there's going to be a look—whether that's a row of eyebrow piercings, a dotting of crystals underneath the eyes or butterfly clips in the hair. This season, accessories came out again in the form of vintage-inspired gold and silver barrettes created by the designers. As is shaping up to be the trend, not all the models wore them; for the ones who did, Odile Gilbert fastened them in unexpected places—across the bangs or behind the ears. Makeup artist James Kaliardos took his inspiration from poetry, Nathaniel Hawthorne specifically. "He was a wild renegade, a young and incredible talent who didn't know how popular he would be," said Kaliardos, who compared the poet to the independent spirit of the Mulleavy sisters. "This is the linchpin of the look," he said, holding up a contour and highlight palette. He ran a brush through both the bronze shade and the illuminator so the two swirled together, then ran it from the halfway point of the cheekbone up to the temple in a swift, slicing motion for the prettiest blend of glow and shade.

Backstage Essentials: NARS Dual-Intensity Blush in Craving, $45, sephora.com; Kérastase Crème de la Crème, $37, kerastase-usa.com.

The Look: French Editrix

How-To: Backstage, hairstylist Eugene Souleiman described this season's Vera girl as "the kind who is maybe interning for French Vogue, from a nice family, but a little bit edgy and naughty. She doesn't have a boyfriend—and she doesn't want one." While we respectfully disagree on the job title (this girl is at least an assistant editor), Souleiman nailed the Marianne Faithfull-inspired look using black Helena wigs, tailor cut to each model. The heavy, round bang that hits just below the eyebrows is the sweet spot for fringe that's "a little bit sexy, a little bit mysterious and not school girl or too masculine."

Backstage Essentials: Wella EIMI Sugar Lift Sugar Spray for Voluminous Texture, $19, ulta.com; Clé de Peau Beauté Powder Eye Color Solo in Juggle, available February 2016, cledepeaubeaute.com.

The Look: Age of Innocence

How-To: Gorgeous, silky waves met lit-from-within skin met perfectly pink lips at Herrera's garden party show—think young, innocent (pre-Ken) Barbie. Orlando Pita ran a light gel through damp hair prior to the blowout, where the goal was to get the hair as smooth and volume-free as possible. Shine spray and hair spray were added next, then Pita took a 1.5-inch curling iron and made big, swingy bends around the head by holding the iron against the hair and wrapping large sections halfway around the barrel for back-and-forth, movement. Makeup artist Diane Kendal's goal was just to enhance the models' natural features with highlighter along the high points and shimmery shadow across the lids for the same effect, dusty rose blush for a soft flush and matte pink lips, the result of brushing bright liquid color over a pinkish-nude pencil.

Backstage Essentials: M.A.C. Promise Me Velvetease Lip Pencil and Retro Matte Liquid Lipstick in Personal statement, available Spring 2016, maccosmetics.com; TRESemmé Expert Selection Make Waves Gel Cream, $6.50, drugstore.com.

The Look: '70s Holiday

How-To: Beauty got personal at DVF, where the inspiration behind the tropical hair and makeup was none other than a '70s photograph of the designer herself, embracing her curls for a night out on the town. "It's a nod to the first time Diane went out and left her hair curly—actually, I think it was the first time she went to Studio 54," said Pat McGrath, who recreated a look she previously did on Sophie Dahl for Italian Vogue. "She [DVF] loved the idea of blues and greens and healthy, glowing skin that looks like they're on holiday but with beautiful color." McGrath blended shimmery green shadow (dampened for a little more "oomph") all around the eye and just above the crease, then used metallic blue shadow as liner, diffusing it out along the upper and lower lash lines for eyes that "look alive, like butterflies." Over at the hair station, Orlando Pita worked gel through damp hair before blow-drying, then used a 3/4-inch iron to curl around the head. After pinning the curls up for 45 minutes to set them, he ran a brush through for big, soft texture. But it was the flowers—handmade in Ibiza by a man who took over his mother's work when she passed (DVF paid tribute to the woman by naming a dress in the collection after her) and fastened onto large pins Pita picked up at Wal-Mart—that brought the disco vacation theme full circle.

Backstage Essentials: TRESemmé Expert Selection Make Waves Shaping Gel Cream, $6.50, drugstore.com.

The Look: West Coast Twist

How-To: Warm, natural tones and bronze, California girl skin are nice and all, but they're also obvious choices for designers who hail from the West Coast—and Derek Lam doesn't go for obvious. "He asked me, how about something a little bit more twisted?" said makeup artist Tom Pecheux, adding that both him and Lam have "a little spookiness" inside them. So Pecheux took two less traveled paths: First, he left the upper lashes and lid totally naked and focused his attention directly under the eye, applying black mascara to the lower lashes, then drawing brown liner across the waterline so the two shades smudged together for rich intensity. Second, he layered peach, then yellow—shades we avoid for fear of looking jaundiced—cream liners directly under the lashes. The effect? A little distorted, but not at all scary.

Backstage Essentials: Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo Concentrated Crayon in Creamy Chocolate and The Falsies Push Up Drama Mascara in Black, available October 2015, maybelline.com.

The Look: Sporty Streamline

How-To: The French manicure was given a much-needed update at Jonathan Simkhai and the result was modern and chic (in other words: finally a French mani even the most high-fashion girls wouldn't look upon with disdain). Manicurist Gina Edwards took inspiration from city scaffolding and created four different bases—red, blue, white and black—but gave all the tips a silver lining.

Backstage Essentials: Morgan Taylor Lacquer in Prim-Rose, Could Have Foiled Me and Little Black Dress, $8.50, loxabeauty.com.

The Look: Modern Bohemian

How-To: Sleek but not severe, unusual but not unsettling, the ropey twists at Public School win for coolest new hybrid style. Aveda Global Artistic Director Allen Ruiz wanted to translate the collection's "nomadic sensibility" to the hair; he secured it back into a tight ponytail, divided it into two even sections, then—and here's where you need to slow down and focus—twisted each individual section clockwise while simultaneously twisting both together counterclockwise to the end.

Backstage Essentials: Aveda Smooth Infusion Nourishing Styling Cream, $26, aveda.com.

The Look: Dialed-Up Romance

How-To: For his first runway show in New York City, a 9/11 tribute set on an apocalyptic pier in clear view of the World Trade Center, Riccardo Tisci took a step away from the dark Victorian glamour he does so well and moved in a lighter, softer, more ethereal direction. But that isn't to say the beauty was any less dramatic. Pat McGrath began working her makeup magic on the models 12 hours before showtime; a couple were given deep, shiny red lips, lots just mascara, highlighter and a smudge of shadow and then of course, there were the masks: McGrath and her team painstakingly applied lace, pearls, butterfly accents and gold jewels to the faces for the strangely beautiful look that has become a Givenchy signature.

Backstage Essentials: Givenchy Mister Light Instant Light Corrective Pen, $35, sephora.com; Jolen Crème Bleach, $6, jet.com.